The SBIFF inThe Eyes of A Seventh Grader

On February 7, I went to the film festival for the first time. Overall, it was a cool experience, but we had a few problems while interviewing people.

First off, it was about 39 degrees, and I couldn’t find Anya. I was off to a fantastic start. After a while and a three-minute phone call, I found Anya shivering in the Press Line, so we checked in, but I still didn’t know what I was getting into.

We walked over to where Amelia was, stuffed in between a fence and a wooden platform, but there wasn’t enough room for the three of us, so I stood on top of the platform and shoved between DP students and a lady who looked very professional.

The DP students turned their camera on, trying to figure out their intro, and testing mics when the first actors and directors trickled down the red carpet. The first people we interviewed were cowboys from Compton, who made a film raising awareness for their foundation, that got kids off the street, out of gangs, and onto horses.

We had an awkward experience with the actors from a Finnish film, when we asked why they decided to make the film, thinking they were the directors. They replied, “Erm… we didn’t make the film, you should ask the director who sadly is not here tonight.”

Things went downhill during that interview.

The best interview we did was a stunt double from Planet of the Apes. I didn’t catch his name, however. He started asking us questions about what we wanted to do when we grew up. When I told him I didn’t know, he just said, “Find something you love and do it passionately.”

He was cool and easy to talk to, so we didn’t need to stress about questions. It felt like we were having a real conversation instead of hosting a five-minute interview.

In the long run, the stress of coming up with questions was worth it. We got to talk to a lot of interesting people and had a lot of fun.